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The last 351W street engine I built, ended up with and Edelbrock Performer on it. Fashioned much the same as the Rochester, but with a few upgrades and a nice shiny finish. Metering rods were easy to change. Metering jets weren't much more work, as the carb came apart nicely, and didn't damage the gaskets.

Did a fair amount of work too with the Holley 4180C that came factory on the mid 80's Ford small blocks. Vacuum secondaries etc. At any given time I had 6 or 7 complete carb kits in a drawer in my toolbox, power valves, vacuum springs, etc. etc. Oh, to have the good old days back again.

Carburetor??? Whats that?? it has been along time but used to put kits in Q-jets all the time. I liked them OK, Last one I worked on was in a boat about 15 yrs ago. I think Blackwolf is correct in his thoughts on your carb problems, however dont forget all the simple and often overlooked items. Maybe you have already checked this stuff but Ignition system issues can also cause stumbling. Although I'm sure if its been sitting up it needs a kit in the carb. Or for that matter all tune up parts. I guess those were the good old days but I have to say if I had a choice I'd pick fuel injection over a carb, so I guess these days are good too. Just requires more tools more $$ Good luck and keep up with the pics I enjoy following the progress.

well, i dug a little deeper this afternoon, and found that when you push the linkage into w.o.t. it squirts a fine stream of fuel all over the intake. i am going to try and find an edelbrock performer for it. not that i am afraid of the q-jet, just not much time.i already have a dual, high rise weiand intake that will fit nicely onto it so that the edelbrock will bolt right up. i have used the performer carbs many times in the past and like its reliability.

i rebuillt the distributor, whether it needed it or not. new weights and springs, pick-up coil, coil, and cap and rotor. plugs and plug wires as well. i missed toying with the hei ignition. its been a little while for me. my first truck was a 79 3+3 dually 4wd. (it was cheap, and i learned about a small block quickly)

i rebuilt the distributor, whether it needed it or not
thats the best way to go if its to be a work truck. you don't want to miss out on or hold up a $1,000.oo + day over some thing small you didn't do when getting the truck ready. its time and $$ well invested to do it right now, before its loaded and got some where to be.
sounds like its coming along nicely.

thanks for the help
......or..........
hope i helped feel free to shoot me an e-mail direct i have time to chat.james@newyorkmetalart.comsummer is here, plant a tree. if you don't have space or time to plant one sponsor some one else to plant one for you. a tree is an investment in our planet, help it out.
JAMES

Good thing about the old engines, everything is cheap for them and still avaliable. I would have done the same thing with the ignition, probably not been changed in along time and moisture and age tells on ignition components.
I dont understand what you mean by squirting a fine stream all over the intake?? Engine not running, Work linkage by hand, accelerator pump will squirt fuel into intake. Sorry for the questions, just didn't want you to spend more than you need to Good luck, looks like your making good progress

some of the carbs have a little plunger that literally squirts a stream of gas in when you floor it. my old catty had one like that. its supposed to cover the instant high volume need to keep it from stuttering wile the air flow and jets catch up to the higher need. if its working properly you should not be stuttering unless it had some thing to do with the vacuum advance in the distributor. as you have already rebuilt the dist. you might try it again before tearing into the carb, unless you just want to do a rebuild now before it starts work.
you might check to see that the floats are not sticking.. my catty was a 1980 i think, but cant remember what carb was on it????

thanks for the help
......or..........
hope i helped feel free to shoot me an e-mail direct i have time to chat.james@newyorkmetalart.comsummer is here, plant a tree. if you don't have space or time to plant one sponsor some one else to plant one for you. a tree is an investment in our planet, help it out.
JAMES

That "little plunger" is the accelerator pump. All carbs have a version of one. They have to,or you'll have a mean stumble. The only exception I can think of might be the variable venturi carb, I read a little about it years ago. Don't know if too much came of it. It may have had a seperate accelerator pump too, I don't remember all the details.

Good thing about the old engines, everything is cheap for them and still avaliable. I would have done the same thing with the ignition, probably not been changed in along time and moisture and age tells on ignition components.
I dont understand what you mean by squirting a fine stream all over the intake?? Engine not running, Work linkage by hand, accelerator pump will squirt fuel into intake. Sorry for the questions, just didn't want you to spend more than you need to Good luck, looks like your making good progress

it squirts a stream of fuel when the engine is running or not, if you work the linkage by hand or with the pedal. it doesnt matter which way you choose. other than the obvious stutter and squirting .30 cents all over the intake every time i push the pedal, it runs very well and idles smooth. i had to get 2 4x8 sheets of 1/4 inch steel and 4 sticks of standard 4 inch channel, as well as 10 sticks of 1 1/2 by 11 ga. square tubing from the steel yard. it handled the load well adn pulled it fine. might have been a little much for a light duty truck, but did just fine.

if its squirting it should not be stuttering ?? although i only have 1 carb now , its on my 51 but it seems like my old caddy only stutterd when it was out of time and or had a bad spark, be it plugs or wires.
did you set the timing and is the advance working ??
like welder_one said the squirt is a little plunger connected directly to your linkage, so it should squirt when you go full throttle be it by linkage or peddle. thats a good thing, well other then the $.30 every time. its got the needed gas so i would look at spark and air flow as the problem.
you shouldn't have any trouble pulling 2 sheets of 1/4" and then some with it.
its going to make a great work truck.

thanks for the help
......or..........
hope i helped feel free to shoot me an e-mail direct i have time to chat.james@newyorkmetalart.comsummer is here, plant a tree. if you don't have space or time to plant one sponsor some one else to plant one for you. a tree is an investment in our planet, help it out.
JAMES

it squirts fuel out of the front of the carb, close to the top. it squirts almost to the thermostat housing. when idling, it seeps slightly out of the top gasket, someone told me that it would make a good paper weight, except that it would get fuel all over everything..lol